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England announce Sevens squad

England Sevens welcome back Alex Davis for the penultimate round of the World Rugby Sevens Series at the Stade Jean Bouin in Paris this weekend.

Warwick Lahmert will captain the squad, which also includes Alex Gray and Ethan Waddleton who were unavailable for the previous two legs.

England face a tough draw in South Africa, Australia and Brazil, before playing the final tournament at home in Twickenham next week.

“It is great to be able to name Alex Davis in what is an exciting but relatively inexperienced squad,” head coach Simon Amor said in an official RFU press release.

“He was on top form at the start of the season and it was a big loss when he and Dan Bibby picked up injuries in Sydney four months ago.

“He has been looking good in training and, while we will need to manage his game time in Paris, this is the start of his return to full fitness.”

With the Olympics drawing closer, England are without senior players Tom Mitchell, Phil Burgess and Dan Norton to ensure that they are fit and fresh for when the GB programme starts at the end of May.

This provides the opportunity for Cameron Cowell, Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas and Ethan Waddleton to continue their development on the world stage.

“Although we are without our most experienced players, in Alex Gray, Charlie Hayter and Richard de Carpentier, we have strong characters on the field and are pleased to give Warwick Lahmert the honour of captaining the side,” said Amor.

“He is a player who will always lead by his actions and deserves this opportunity.

“We are grateful to Harlequins who have released Ollie Lyndsey-Hague again. He was very much on modified minutes in the last two tournaments but has had a full training block with us now and, with sevens’ conditioning under his belt, we are looking forward to seeing what he can do in Paris.”

England are currently eighth in the World Series’ standings, while South Africa sit in second place and Australia in fourth. Brazil are the tournament’s invited team ahead of them hosting the Olympic Games in Rio later this summer.

Amor described the Pool as “challenging” but says his squad should relish the opportunity.

“There is never an easy pool and this weekend we have been drawn with South Africa and Australia who have both been stand out performers this season and also face Brazil who have been preparing well for their home Olympics,” he said.

“It will be a challenging tournament for this developing group but we are excited and looking forward to then finishing the series in front of a home crowd in London.”